Fireproof safe



wall LUIIV" I AND RELATED DEVICES July 28, 192s.

C. J. BATES. JR

FIRBPROOF SAFE Filed Aug. 16- 1924 till! I" IIIIIIIIIIIIII'IIA 1141!" ATTORNEY IIIlIlIlIl/Ila AND RELATED DEVICES.

Patented July 28, 1925.

UNITED STATES .4 Watergate.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES J. BATES, JR, OF ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE MOSLER SAFE COMPANY, OF HAMILTON, OHIO,

A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

FIREPRO'OF SAFE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. BATES, J r., a citizen of the United States, residing at Englewood, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fireproof Safes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fireproof safes, and the principal object of my invention is to provide means for preventing the development of open cracks in the safe filling behind the j amb and door edge walls when the safe is subjected to intense heat, and thus to render the safe more heatproof, fireproof and durable under fire hazard. Another ob ject of my invention is to provide simple and inexpensive means for accomplishing the above object, and which means may be readily and easily applied to and incorporated in safes of conventional construction. Other objects of my invention will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

Accordingly my invention consists in the combinations of elements, arrangement of parts, and features of construction which will be described hereinafter, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims that follow.

In order that a clearer understanding of my invention may be had, attention is hereby directed to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, and illustrating certain possible embodiments of my invention. Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a horizontal sectional view of a jamb portion and door of a safe, the door being broken away across the center, and one form of crack preventing device embodying my invention beingshown incorporated in the jamb portion of the safe, and another form of crack preventing device embodying my invention being shown incorporated in the door; Fig. 2 is an end view of a fragment of the device incorporated in the jamb, and is taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a fragment of the door, and is taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, showing the crack preventing device in side elevation. Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, the safe comprises inner walls 1, outer walls 2, jamb walls 3, and filling 4. The door comprises inner wall 5, outer wall 6, door edge walls 7 at the top, bottom, and lock edges, door edge wall 8 at the hinge edge, and filling 9. The fillings in both jamb and door may be hydraulic cement or any other suitable material or mixture.

Between flanges 10 at the inner edge of the jamb walls 3 and flanges 11 at the outer edges of the safe inner walls 1, I secure, as by riveting or welding to these flanges, metallic strips 12, which extend a substantial distance into the filling and serve to prevent the formation of open cracks in the filling, and between the wall and filling, through which heat may travel into the interior of the safe when the safe is subjected to a fire hazard. I may also secure suitable metallic strips 13 to the door edge walls in such a way that the strips extend a substantial distance into the door filling and anchor or tie together the filling and door edge walls and prevent the formation of open cracks in the door filling or between the door edge walls and the filling, through which heat may travel into the interior of the safe when subjected to intense heat. Preferably, the crack preventing strips 12 and 13 are disposed along both sides and along the top and bottom of the door and jamb. The size and shape of the strips may be varied considerably in shape and in the amount to which they extend into the filling. For the door I have found it sufficient to employ flat strips which extend an inch and a half or two inches into the door filling. These strips may be riveted or welded to the door edge walls 3 and 8, as at 14 and 15.

In the drawings, the crack preventing plates or strips 12 in the jamb are shown to have their inner edges formed into flanges 16 which are bent alternately in opposite directions to the body of the strips 12, and are preferably positioned to make an acute angle with the body of the strips, thus anchoring the filling against both sides of the body of the strips, as well as enhancing the action of the strips in anchoring the filling to the jamb walls and the safe inner walls.

It is well known that when a safe is subjected to intense heat its metallic walls warp and bulge and become distorted, and fre quently, due to such distortion, open cracks extending from the outside to the inside of the safe are formed between the metallic jamb and door edge walls and the filling or in the filling itself adjacent these walls. Such open cracks present passage through which heat may gain entrance to the inside of the safe, and .this is extremely objectionable as being dangerous to the contents of the safe. The metallic strips 12 and 13 above described not only anchor or tie the walls and filling together in such a way as to prevent the formation of large open cracks, but also are so positioned that the bodies of the strips will intercept and block up any cracks that may be formed behind the walls under exceptional conditions, thus effectually blocking the travel of heat through such cracks to the interior of the safe. The strips do not interfere with the flowing of the filling into the structure.

As shown in the drawings, the door jamb walls, as at 17, and the door edge walls, as at 18, may be formed with interior channels or pockets into which the filling enters, and whereby the filling is anchored to some extent to these walls.

Obviously the members 13 in the door may at their inner ends have anchor flanges such as the flanges 16 of members 12. The members 12 and 13 serve to conduct heat into the filling, thus retarding heat travel to the interior of the safe. Also the interrupting action of welding the surfaces together when the anchor or baffle members 12 and 13 are attached creates a condition which tends to interrupt and retard the passage of heat.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely diflerent embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim is 1. In safe construction, two wall portions having inwardly flanged adjacent edges, filling against the rear of said wall portions, a metallic strip interposed between said flanges and welded thereto, said strip extending a substantial distance into said filling, preventing the formation of open cracks between said wall portions and said filling and through said filling due to distortion of said wall portions under the ac- 2 tion of intense heat.

2. In safe construction, two wall portions having flanged adjacent edges, filling against the rear of said wall portions, a metallic strip interposed between said flanges and welded thereto, said strip extending a substantial distance into said filling and having flanges on opposite sides thereof extending into the filling, preventin the formation of open cracks between said wall portions and said filling and through said filling due to distortion of said wall portions under the action of intense heat.

3. In a safe of the character described, a wall, filling against the rear of said wall, and a metallic strip secured to said wall and extending a substantial distance into said filling, preventing the formation of open cracks between said filling and said wall and through the filling adjacent said wall due to distortion of said wall under the action of intense heat, said strip having flanges on opposite sides thereof extending into the filling.

4. In a safe of the character described, a wall, filling against the rear of said wall, and a metallic strip secured to said wall and extending a substantial distance into said filling, preventing the formation of open cracks between said filling and said wall and through the filling adjacent said wall due to distortion of said wall under the action of intense heat, said strip having flanges on opposite sides thereof extending into the filling, and disposed at acute angles to the body of the strip.

5. In safe construction, in combination, an outer wall, an inner wall having a flange, a jamb wall having a flange, said flanges being inwardly directed and adjacent each other, a metallic strip interposed between said innerwall flange and said jamb wall flange and secured to both said flanges, filling against the rear of said jamb wall and between said inner and outer wall, said strip extending a substantial distance into said filling, preventing the formation of open cracks between said jamb wall and said filling and through said filling due to distortion of said jamb wall under the action of intense heat.

6. In safe combination, in combination, an outer wall, an inner wall having a flange, a jamb wall having a flange, a metallic strip interposed between said inner wall flange and said jambwall flange and secured to both said flanges, filling against the rear of said jamb wall and between said inner and outer wall, said strip extending a substantial distance into said filling, preventing the formation of open cracks between said j amb wall and said filling and through said filling due to distortion of said jamb wall under the action of intense heat, said jamb wall having an interior channel, and the filling being engaged in said channel, whereby the filling is anchored to said jamb Wall.

This specification signed this 31st day of July, 1924:.

CHARLES J. BATES, JR. 

